Systems and methods for drilling automation with OPC UA

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides a drilling system that comprises a drilling rig, a device box having a plurality of sensors monitoring operating parameters of the drilling rig, an OPC UA server receiving data from the plurality of the sensors, and an OPC UA client in communication with the OPC UA server. The OPC UA client has a client library between the client application layer and the client SDK layer, which converts a client application to an OPC UA operation.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to methods and devices for communicationbetween clients and servers according to a standard protocol OPC UA. Themethods and devices are suitable for communications in industrialautomation systems, especially in the field of oil and gas explorations.

BACKGROUND

The drilling system used in the modern oil and gas explorations is acomplex electro-mechanical systems. It includes both surface equipmentand downhole drilling tools. Surface equipment includes rotatingequipment for rotating downhole drilling tools, hoisting equipment forlifting the drill string, pipe handling systems for handling tubularsused in construction of the well, pressure control equipment forcontrolling wellbore pressure, mud pumps and mud cleaning equipment forhandling the drilling mud.

Downhole drilling tools include a drilling assembly that breaks andtraverses the earth formation. The drilling assembly includes a drillbit and a drill collar. It may also have a downhole motor, a rotarysteerable system, telemetry transmitters, as well asmeasurement-while-drilling (MWD) and logging-while-drilling (LWD)instruments.

Sensors are employed to measure the operations of surface equipment(e.g., hook load, block height, rotary RPM) as well as conditionsdownhole, which include properties of the earth formation (e.g.,resistivity, density, porosity, permeability, acoustic properties,nuclear-magnetic resonance properties, corrosive properties of thefluids or formation, and salt or saline contents) and operationparameters of the downhole tools. Parameters of the drilling assemblymeasured typically include velocity, vibration, bending moment, etc.Downhole vibrations can be further categorized into axial vibration(e.g., bit bounce), which is along the drill string axis; lateralvibration (e.g., whirl), which is transverse to the drill string axis;and torsional vibration (e.g., stick slip), which is in rotary pathabout the drill string axis. The MWD/LWD instruments also monitordrilling operating parameters including weight-on-bit (WOB), drillingmud flow rate, pressure, temperature, rate of penetration, azimuth, toolface, drill bit rotation, etc. A sensor, used herein, refers generallyto a device that receives data indicating a condition downhole or aboveground. For example, in mud-pulse telemetry, the sensor can be apressure sensor that monitors the drilling fluid pressure fluctuations.In electromagnetic telemetry, the sensor can be a device detecting thevoltage difference between the wellhead and the ground rod. In wiredpipe telemetry, the sensor can be directly attached to a downhole tooland data collected therefrom is transmitted to the surface via cables.

The large amount of data gathered during the drilling operation presentschallenges in data transmission and data sharing. For example,constructing a single well often involves the owner of the well, adrilling contractor who drillings the well, and many other companiesthat provide specialized tools and services (e.g., tripping the drillingstring, casing, and sealing) for the construction as well as operationof the well. The different players often have their own proprietarysystems and software. Integrating multiple systems from differentcompanies are very complex.

Furthermore, for drilling automation, equipment on the rig communicatesto and is controlled by a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) on thedrilling rig. PLCs on different rigs are often different so thatautomation designed for one rig may not be applicable to others.

OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is a protocol formanufacturer-independent communication used in industrial automationsystem. An automation system may employ an OPC UA server that storeinformation regarding the operational parameters of the system. Inaddition, the OPC UA server may also make the information available viaa network connection to one or more OPC UA clients operating at otherlocations. As such, OPC UA provides a standard and secure bi-directionalnetwork protocol for device communications, e.g., it provides a standardand portable interface for data query and controlling devices. OPC UAcan also be used in storing and providing historical data. It canfurther perform device discovery, allowing for plug-and-play of rigequipment.

Therefore, there is a need to facilitate the implementation of OPC UA inthe drilling data communications, for example, to improve or upgradeexisting application system with OPC UA.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a drilling system that comprises adrilling rig, a device box having a plurality of sensors monitoringoperating parameters of the drilling rig, an OPC UA server receivingdata from the plurality of the sensors, and an OPC UA client incommunication with the OPC UA server. The OPC UA client has a clientlibrary between the client application layer and the client SDK layer,which converts a client application to an OPC UA operation.

In another embodiment, the OPC UA server has a server library betweenthe server application layer and the server SDK layer, which converts aserver application to an OPC UA operation.

The disclosure also provides a method to convert an existing drillingsystem not using OPC UA protocol by replacing the communication layer inthe existing system with such a library.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood byconsidering the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the OPC UA server—client structureof the current disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed below. In an effort to provide a concise description of theseembodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not bedescribed in the specification. It should be appreciated that in thedevelopment of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering ordesign project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madeto achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance withsystem-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from oneimplementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that sucha development effort might be complex and time consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, andmanufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of thisdisclosure.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the presentinvention, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended tomean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements.

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. It is noted that wherever practicable, similar or likereference numbers may be used in the drawings and may indicate similaror like elements.

The drawings depict embodiments of the present disclosure for purposesof illustration only. One skilled in the art would readily recognizefrom the following description that alternative embodiments existwithout departing from the general principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a system of the currentdisclosure. The system contains an OPC UA client (10), an OPC UA server(20), and a device box (30). The OPC UA client (10) can be a device withan OPC UA client stack, SDK, a library and application, such as, HMI orPC. The OPC UA server (20) contains server stack, SDK, and applications.The client and server communicate via a secure channel (40). Thetransport protocol can be different combinations of UA Binary, TCP/IP,HTTPS, SOAP, etc. The device box (30) can be a hardware device equippedwith sensors. The OPC UA server can be stand alone or directly embeddedwith the hardware in the device box.

In FIG. 1, the device box (30) contains a plurality of sensors thatcollect information from various devices on the rig. The device box (30)communicates with the OPC UA server (20) via Ethernet or a serialconnection. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the OPC UA server (20)can be embedded with the device box (30)

OPC UA application development is based on a layered structure. At thebottom of the layers is the OPC UA stack, which implements the TCP/IPcommunication protocol defined by the OPC Foundation. The OPC UA stackcan be an AnsiC Stack, a .NET Stack, or a Java Stack, depending on thedevelopment language and environments. Different OPC UA stacks areindependent of the development environment in which they are created.Therefore, OPC UA applications developed by different parties usingdifferent tools can work together. An OPC UA stack handles communicationprotocols, typically involving low level APIs that fulfill functionssuch as message encoding, message security, message transport, etc.

The OPC UA SDK is built on top of the OPC UA stack to implement baseservices, including current values, information models, events, nodemanagement, alarms, subscription management, history, sessionmanagement, methods, identity managements, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1, both the OPC UA client (10) and the OPC UA server(20) contain a stack layer and a SDK layer. The server applications inthe server are supported/developed directly on the server SDK layer. Inthis case, the applications show the parameters of a sensor (sensor1-3),which include name, ID, voltage, and current, or other properties(property-21 or property-31). Additional sensors or devices as well asoperating parameters can be added. On the other hand, the OPC UA client(10) contains a library between client applications and the OPC UAclient SDKs. The library contains an adapter interface, which converts aclient application to an OPC UA operation. The inclusion of this libraryenables developers who has limited or no knowledge about OPC UA to writeapplications in languages that they are familiar with. The applicationswritten that can be used in the OPC UA system.

Specifically, during implementation, the OPC UA client detects nodes inthe OPC UA server and maps a server address space. It provides aninterface of device-item (such as a sensors) tree to a clientapplication. It also converts each operation from a client applicationto OPC UA operation, as well as any alarm or event from server to aclient event to forward to the client application.

A server library can be provided in the OPC UA server between the serverapplication layer and the server SDK. The server library contains anadapter interface, which converts a server application to an OPC UAoperation. The inclusion of this library enables developers who haslimited or no knowledge about OPC UA to write applications in languagesthat they are familiar with. The applications written that can be usedin the OPC UA system.

In other embodiments, the OPC UA client has the client library with theOPC UA server does not have the server library, and vice versa.

The inclusion of a library in the OPC UA server and/or the OPC UA clientcan replace the communication layer in an existing non-OPC UAapplication. It can support any client for an OPC UA server, and viceversa.

What is claimed is:
 1. A drilling system, comprising: a drilling rig; adevice box having a plurality of sensors monitoring operating parametersof the drilling rig; an OPC UA (OPC Unified Architecture) serverreceiving data from the plurality of the sensors; and an OPC UA clientin communication with the OPC UA server, wherein the OPC UA clientcomprises a client application layer, a client SDK (Software DevelopmentKit) layer, a client OPC UA stack, and a client library in communicationwith the client application layer and the client SDK layer, and whereinat least one of the plurality of the sensors monitors a downholecondition, wherein the OPC UA server is embedded in the plurality ofsensors in the device box, and wherein the downhole condition is a rateof penetration of a drill bit, a weight-on-bit of the drill bit, or atool face, and wherein the OPC UA server comprises a server applicationlayer, a server SDK layer, a server OPC UA stack, and a server libraryin communication with the server application layer and the server SDKlayer, the server library comprises a second adapter interface thatconverts a server application to an OPC UA operation.
 2. The drillingsystem of claim 1, wherein the client application layer comprises one ormore client applications written in a plurality of programing languages.3. The drilling system of claim 2, wherein the client library comprisesa first adapter interface that converts an operation from a clientapplication to a client OPC UA operation.
 4. The drilling system ofclaim 3, wherein the client application shows parameters from one of theplurality of sensors.
 5. The drilling system of claim 4, whereinparameters comprises a name, an ID, a voltage, or a current.
 6. Thedrilling system of claim 1, wherein the server application shows name,ID, voltage, and current of the plurality of sensors.